Mental health: how to stop stigma and take action

Here at Mums in Cyprus, we spend large parts of the morning online and as a consequence, come across countless of websites every day. We see rubbish websites (loads of them!), out of date websites (how hard can it be!?) and even websites where we seriously wonder why anyone even bothered to put them up…

But once in a while there is one that stands out. The Perfect Find.

Professional, transparent, factual and supportive, yesterday’s discovery is one of these gems: childmind.org

The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders. As an independent, non-profit organisation based in the United States, their teams ‘work every day to deliver the highest standards of care, advance the science of the developing brain and empower parents, professionals and policymakers to support children when and where they need it most.’

Ok, so Cyprus is not the US, but mental health is an issue on our island, too.

Teachers can find resources for recognising learning disorders in the classroom, dealing with anxiety and ADHD in students, and browse though recommended strategies to address these.

One of the biggest obstacles to tackling mental health is the stigma attached to it, and this is where The Childmind Institute’s anti-stigma campaign #MyYoungerSelf comes in. That’s what got us to their website in the first place, as it was mentioned by Time Magazine.

‘This May actors, athletes, social influencers, businesspeople and more send a message of hope about their experience growing up with a mental health or learning disorder: Help us stop the shame and stigma. This is #MyYoungerSelf, the Child Mind Institute’s campaign to counter the stigma for the 1 in 5 children struggling with these disorders.’